A new report from Juniper Research has found that the number of tickets delivered to mobile phones worldwide will more than quadruple to 23 billion by 2016, compared with 4 billion tickets estimated to have been delivered during 2011. Worldwide, mobile users are now beginning to adopt mobile tickets as an integrated part of their mobile lifestyle - whether for airline, road or rail transport, or for sporting or entertainment event access - and as an integrated component of their mobile wallet[2].

The report found that mobile ticketing solves key problems for facility operators whether in the transport or events markets. The ability to sell and deliver tickets through the mobile channel without the need for extra staff or real estate has a significant impact on operator profitability, especially as user numbers are continually increasing and need to be supported with minimal investment, says Juniper Research [3](Hampshire, UK).

The report warns, however, that mobile ticketing applications must be simple to use and win the confidence of the user both in terms of the security and reliability of the mobile ticketing service. A single poor user experience may put off a user for a long time and runs the risk of nullifying the advantages for the facility operator.

"Mobile ticketing together with mobile payments [2]are the front running applications in the mobile commerce market today,” says David Snow, report author. “Mobile ticketing may be the first mobile commerce application that will be adopted at a mass market level, so it's important that users receive a first class experience; that is the major challenge for all players in the mobile ticketing ecosystem."

The report also found that 1 in 8 mobile users in Western Europe will use their phone as a contactless metro ticket by 2016. Also by 2016, NFC mobile tickets will represent more than 50% of all mobile ticketing revenue.